Cognitive Science subforum in Other Sciences

[Auto-Didact]

It seems this forum lacks appropriate subfora for many large branches of science. I'll just name a few that come to mind (NB: the ones I wanted to post threads about, but found no good place to really do so):
- Economic sciences: in particular economics and finance.
- Social sciences: important ones are anthropology, archeology, linguistics and political science.
- Cognitive sciences: most importantly neuroscience, psychology and artificial intelligence.

Of the above, not having a Cognitive Science subforum seems particularly lacking since it is 'harder science' opposed to the others which are 'soft science'. This is especially true seeing how technical the subject has become and how rapidly it is gaining popularity, importance and overall ground within both society and academia.

I think having a Cognitive Science subforum would go great in line with the other science subfora. Moreover it could attract new users to Physics Forums, which is already largely equipped to become a pioneering haven of online discussion for these subjects.

 

[Borek]

We create subforums to channel existing traffic, not in hope it will generate traffic. It never does.

Even if the traffic exists it is sometimes lost instead of being directed to a new subforum.

It has been discussed to death in the past, please do a search.

 

[Auto-Didact]

I figured that was how it worked, but how much just isn't posted simply because there isn't a real place to post it? Any data on that? I assume this to be not much... Then again, I myself haven't posted over a dozen threads yet (5 and counting for Cognitive Science of which 2 in AI and 3 in neuroscience) for this exact reason; posting in a related but incorrect subforum tends to either get unhelpful responses, no responses or counterproductive responses from the incorrect specialist point of view... not to mention the bad rep which ensues in the following frustration/misunderstanding.

Regarding Cognitive Science, I searched for some topics I want to post threads on and came back wanting: a few hundred threads spread over several years and over subforums ranging from Biology and Med, Computing and Tech, Programming and CompSci, General Engineering, General Discussion, Set Theory and Logic all the way up to Career Guidance... it just seems there has to be a better way to organize these threads in a single place and so streamline the discussion instead of the free-for-all it is now.

 

[symbolipoint]

I figured that was how it worked, but how much just isn't posted simply because there isn't a real place to post it? Any data on that? I assume this to be not much... Then again, I myself haven't posted over a dozen threads yet (5 and counting for Cognitive Science of which 2 in AI and 3 in neuroscience) for this exact reason; posting in a related but incorrect subforum tends to either get unhelpful responses, no responses or counterproductive responses from the incorrect specialist point of view... not to mention the bad rep which ensues in the following frustration/misunderstanding.

Regarding Cognitive Science, I searched for some topics I want to post threads on and came back wanting: a few hundred threads spread over several years and over subforums ranging from Biology and Med, Computing and Tech, Programming and CompSci, General Engineering, General Discussion, Set Theory and Logic all the way up to Career Guidance... it just seems there has to be a better way to organize these threads in a single place and so streamline the discussion instead of the free-for-all it is now.

Name of main forum, www physicsforums com, indicates an emphasis on physical sciences, mathematics, engineering, computer science; and another board does include medicine, and another includes biological science.

Best bets might be in Art Music History Linguistics, or in Biology And Medical boards.

 

[Vanadium 50]

It seems this forum lacks appropriate subfora for many large branches of science.

It seems that sentence lacks some basic tact and politeness.

A. There are many threads on adding subfora. A wise man might read them. A very wise man might have read them before posting.
B. This is physicsforums, not anykindofsciencethatstrikesmyfancyforums.
C. If you want something to happen, you might want to adopt a different strategy than starting off with both guns blazing,

 

[Auto-Didact]

The passive-aggressive stance that many take here seems unnecessarily confrontational. Notice the keyword 'seems' which I also used in the OP; I recognize that my suspicions might be wrong entirely, which is exactly why I included a poll to gauge the opinions of others based on my arguments and their own wants/needs, instead of just incessantly trying to propagate my own wants/needs. Then again one might question the validity of such a polling done in a somewhat obscure subsection where frequent visitors and contributors, i.e. staff and veterans, tend to be against changing up engrained traditions.

As I said before I did do a search; the only partially related result that turned up for me (this thread) is from almost a decade ago... the reasons for rejection back then seems related mostly to a preferred censoring of philosophical discussion, doesn't really address the issue at hand and doesn't really cover the more recent advances in the field in the last few years. I think these latest advances in the field merit that the time is perhaps right for a reappraisal of the situation of having such a subforum, which is why I opted to just post the thread; based on the poll so far, it seems that very few share my opinion.

 

[StatGuy2000]

Name of main forum, www physicsforums com, indicates an emphasis on physical sciences, mathematics, engineering, computer science; and another board does include medicine, and another includes biological science.

Best bets might be in Art Music History Linguistics, or in Biology And Medical boards.

Yes, both you and @Vanadium 50 are correct that this forum (as the name "Physics Forums" implies) does place an emphasis on the physical sciences, mathematics, engineering, and computer science.

That being said, cognitive science (which is what @Auto-Didact has expressed an interest in) is an interdisciplinary program that often intersects with all of the above fields, in addition to the social sciences (psychology, linguistics) and biology and even to philosophy (to a limited extent). So adding a subforum on the technical (not philosophical) aspects of cognitive science is I think a good idea.

More generally, I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to find some way to better organize topics that involve interdisciplinary topics within the sciences or engineering fields. Perhaps there is a way to flag posts that can belong in multiple fora? Again, I don't know about the feasibility of this on Physics Forums -- perhaps @Greg Bernhardt or the moderators have already thought about this?

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Thanks for the suggestions! In previous years we have tried social science, economic and psychology forums and they all ended up relatively unused.

Perhaps there is a way to flag posts that can belong in multiple fora?

That would be neat and could be done with a set of tags, but not available at the moment.

 

[Tom.G]

That would be neat and could be done with a set of tags, but not available at the moment.

Yes, I have sometimes wished for an Index in addition to the current Table-Of-Contents approach, albeit on rare occassions! Then I realized that someone with a Library Science background would be needed to wrangle it. Oh well. Also not sure how the Bag-Of-Tags would work out, could be rather useful but one fears pandemonium.

 

[symbolipoint]

Cognitive Science would be part of Behavior, Psychology, Neurology, and Education.

 

[Auto-Didact]

Cognitive Science would be part of Behavior, Psychology, Neurology, and Education.

Does such a subforum already exist?

Also Neurology is a medical specialty, the correct term is Neuroscience

 

[symbolipoint]

Cognitive Science would be part of Behavior, Psychology, Neurology, and Education.

Does such a subforum already exist?

Also Neurology is a medical specialty, the correct term is Neuroscience

In being a little more thorough about deciding which board seems best for Cognitive Science:

https://www.physicsforums.com/forums/biology-chemistry-and-earth-homework.157/

https://www.physicsforums.com/forums/biology-and-medical.82/

In case no board seems a fit, https://www.physicsforums.com/forums/general-discussion.14/

Maybe a long-shot in some cases, https://www.physicsforums.com/forums/art-music-history-and-linguistics.20/

 

[BillTre]

To me, it seems that all things neural-related should go into the Biology and Medical forum.
This would include neurology, neuroscience, behavior, and probably psychology that links tightly to biology or neurobiology.

Other related subject matters (economic sciences, social sciences (anthropology, archeology, linguistics and political science), and cognitive sciences) could fit into the Art, Music, History, Linguistics sub-forum of the General Discussion forum.

Alternatively a sub-forum in the Biology and Medical forum could hold the issues tightly related in biological issues.

It seems that sentence lacks some basic tact and politeness.

I think not.
I would call it clear and concise.

 

[ZeGato]

I think there used to be an economics subforum, but they closed it because it invariably led to politics. I for one can't see anyone classifying the works of Paul Krugman as scientific when he doesn't even know how to apply statistics, and I'll be damned if I have to keep my mouth shut about that. As for the other ones, it's all a matter of traffic - if the forums that now include those subtopics get filled with them, they'll create a new subforum.

 

[Auto-Didact]

How about artificial intelligence research? That is where the biggest breakthroughs are happening right now within cognitive science.
Cognitive research from the field of AI utilises many theoretical frameworks from physics and applied mathematics, tools and implementations from computer science and connects with both cognitive research programmes in psychology and (theoretical) neuroscience.

The direct relationship with biology and medical research on the other hand, is spurious at best... the divergence between their standard and terminology and research methodologies is vast, they are practically speaking different languages. One is probably as likely to find scientific AI topics posted in there as one is of finding the latest biophysics research posted there.